★ 2 / 10
Lousy slasher with copycat ending of The Omen.
Except for few gory kills, the movie doesn't have anything good.The story doesn't make sense and the killer's motive plus the ritual stuff and the copycat…
Except for few gory kills, the movie doesn't have anything good.The story doesn't make sense and the killer's motive plus the ritual stuff and the copycat ending, all add to the lousy package.It has an erotic dance without any nudity with tons of flickering lights.The makers cud have easily borrowed elements from the early giallo and the 80s slasher movies but alas.
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★ 8 / 10
An immensely effective and likable slasher
Arriving at a remote building, a theater troupe arrives at an abandoned theater to rehearse a strange play, learn they're trapped inside with a deranged…
Arriving at a remote building, a theater troupe arrives at an abandoned theater to rehearse a strange play, learn they're trapped inside with a deranged, masked killer targeting the group for preparations into a bizarre occult ritual, and must find the connection behind everything to get away.For the most part, this was a blast and has a lot to like about it. Among the better aspects on display here is the solid and engaging setup that works incredibly well to appear as a rather ordinary genre vehicle before appearing as something else. The main setup of the group, appearing at the darkened, barely operational theater, begins rehearsing for their play while trying to make do with the staff, who are working to keep the building operational to their discomfort, as it impedes their plans for the performances, giving this a great starting point. The conflict between the two sides comes across even better with the atmosphere of the location, with the darkly lit building and raging thunderstorm keeping it ominous and mysterious on its own, even before the inclusion of the darkened ritualistic offerings comes into play. Even though the film hints at that early with the bizarre rehearsal performance that goes on, it doesn't take until the halfway point that something that bizarre is occurring, which allows this to build up some great atmosphere involving what's going on. As well, there's also quite a lot to like here with the strong slashing action. This one is far more brutal than expected, going for a series of vicious and somewhat shocking stalking scenes. The opening attack on the wheelchair-bound priest after speaking to a gathered crowd is a fantastic way to get things going, while the first attack at the theater, involving the killer striking one of the guards in their hut and stalking the dismembered-but-still-living victim through the hallways, is a strong way to get things going. The rest of the stalking scenes and encounters throughout here are quite a blast, with the ambush in the control room that the group is unaware of until it's too late to save him or the later scenes in the theater hallways being chased are just as much fun, and with the whole experience wrapped up with graphic kills and a fantastically creepy mask for the killer, give this one a lot to like. There are some minor issues here that hold it down. The main detriment found here is the bizarre presentation structure, putting everything into ordered chapters that serve no real purpose. The main setup as a whole works incredibly well with the egotistical and delusional actors running around the theater trying to rehearse this mysterious play while a masked killer knocks them off one by one, yet that whole thing is interrupted several times over to introduce strange title cards indicating specific points in the story. The episodic structure is unnecessary and irrelevant when it's barely mentioned at all and is barely missed when the focus on some of the longer sections breaks during the main story that it could've used to build up the meaning for the whole ritual, since that doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It just seems to come together rather arbitrarily and doesn't serve this with any kind of purpose, which is the main issue here.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Brief Nudity.
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★ 3 / 10
Insufferable slasher/Giallo trash from Poland
It's an annual tradition, one or two weeks prior to the start of the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, the organizers announce their full film…
It's an annual tradition, one or two weeks prior to the start of the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, the organizers announce their full film program, and I start researching and selecting the titles I absolutely want to see. Every year, there's always ONE title that immediately stands out as a must-see... "Dead by Dawn" seemed like a perfect match, although this was purely based on the delicious-looking film poster (prominently featuring someone wearing a mask made out of eyeballs), and the brief description stating it would be a Giallo from Poland with a plot inspired by Michèle Saovi ("Stagefright") and Dario Argento ("Opera").Well, here's to another massive disillusion... Instead of a fun throwback Giallo/slasher gem, "Dead by Dawn" is a dull, senseless, and overly pretentious piece of chaotic fan-boy amateur film. Writer/director Dawid Torrone had the luxury of working with a decent budget and the perfect location of an abandoned theater in the middle of nowhere but failed to do something magical with it. Admittedly, there are a handful of extremely gore kills, but that's not enough. The plot remains vague throughout the entire running time, none of the characters are likeable, and the amount of irritating and purely useless in-between padding footage is intolerable.Most of the characters are aspiring stage performers, lured to the infamous Heissenhoff Theater to shine - supposedly - in a prestigious new play, but there's a sinister figure dwelling around who has different plans. There is so much potential present here, but Torrone constantly interrupts the pacing himself, by implementing a pointless narrative structure (existing of six "chapters"), and hectically edited rehearsing sequences. The "homages" to Argento and other true masters of colorful Giallo-cinema are downright embarrassing. The plot reveals practically nothing about the killer and what his/her motivations might be, and the "grand finale" is hopelessly derivative. Terrible film, of which I hope it'll be forgotten very soon.
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1080p looks like 480p streamed over dial-up. horrible